Gastonia's Lowery hoping to finish his career with a flourish

GASTONIA – Garrett Lowery has played baseball with Andrew Ray and Jared Wallace since they were five years old and T-ball was the version of the sport.

A recent graduate of North Gaston High School, Lowery knows he has another year of eligibility left to play for Gastonia American Legion Post 23, but he’s hoping he and his longtime teammates can put some positive closure on their careers this summer.

“I want to push myself and my teammates to make it far in the playoffs this season,” said Lowery, whose team hosts Lincoln County Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a North Carolina Area IV Eastern Division game. “We came into this season wanting to win more games.”

Gastonia certainly has done that, but there was much work to do since Post 23 went 5-15 and failed to qualify for the playoffs two years ago and went 3-14 after getting swept by eventual champion Cherryville in the first round of last year’s Area IV playoffs.

“We’d struggled in the past mostly because we didn’t have a lot of pitching,” Lowery said. “This year, that’s not the case.”

How much depth does Gastonia have compared to years past?

Lowery, who will play third base next season at Limestone College on a baseball scholarship, has had to pitch only twice this season – both times in relief – after getting regular work his first two seasons.

“So we need to do our part and hit and field behind those guys,” said Lowery, who picked up a save in the 9-5 victory at Hickory on June 3.

Entering Monday’s game against Queen City, Gastonia was 6-9 overall and 3-7 in the division and could move up as high as third in the division – or fall completely out of the playoffs as the regular season ends on Sunday.

Already this season, Gastonia has swept Cherryville in the regular season for the first time since 2004 in addition to sweeping a doubleheader over the Carolina Heat and winning single games over Hickory and Union County.

Lowery, who bats leadoff and is hitting .381 this season, will be counted on for a big finish by his coach.

“He’s (Lowery) always been one of the best hitters we faced at Ashbrook in addition to being one of the best shortstops in the league,” said Cobb, who also is the Ashbrook High head coach and at least twice a year in the Big South 3A Conference the last four years when Lowery was a North Gaston starter. “He’s a really good leader and great all-around player.”

Whatever happens the rest of the season, Lowery says he plans to stay in touch with his longtime teammates and friends in the future. While Lowery will be at Limestone, Ray will be at Greensboro College and Wallace at UNC-Wilmington.

Of course, since the trio began playing together, they’ve been a part of Dixie Youth, Friday Middle School and North Gaston teams. Another Post 23 teammate, Brandon Bridges, was a year ahead of the trio at North Gaston and is preparing for his sophomore year at Lenior-Rhyne University.

“It’s really pretty cool to have played so long with these guys,” Lowery said. “I know it’s going to be different next year with us at different schools, but I’m sure we’ll always stay in touch.”

You can reach Richard Walker at 704-869-1841 or by twitter.com/JRWalk22

NC sweeps challenge

Lightning ended the North Carolina/South Carolina Challenge Sunday at Riley Park in Sumter, S.C., but not before North Carolina won for the sixth time in the eight years of the event.

North Carolina teams Kernersville and Randolph County won all three games they played, with Wilmington finishing 2-0 before its finale against host Sumter was cancelled. Florence and Greenwood finished 0-3.

The event moves back to North Carolina next season in Wilmington, with Shelby joining Cary and the host team as this state’s representatives.

The event moves to Florence, S.C., in 2015, Salisbury in 2016, Hilton Head, S.C., in 2017 and Asheboro in 2018.